Yodel in Hi-Fi explores the vibrant and varied traditions of yodelers around the world. Far from being a quaint and dying art, yodel is a thriving vocal technique that has been perennially renewed by singers from Switzerland to Korea, from Colorado to Iran. Bart Plantenga offers a lively and surprising tour of yodeling in genres from opera to hip-hop and in venues from cowboy campfires and Oktoberfests to film soundtracks and yogurt commercials. Displaying an extraordinary versatility, yodeling crosses all borders and circumvents all language barriers to assume its rightful place in the world of music. [read more]

Here is a deservedly enthusiastic review from The Brooklyn Rail:

When I was a child and first heard yodeling, all I knew was that it did something to me, and that what it did to me was strange, mysterious, and maybe even (if I were wont to use such terms back then) spiritual and profound. In those days when I first became aware of a world beyond the one in which I lived—a world with hundreds, maybe even thousands of other languages than the two I heard at home, as well as countless styles, beliefs, and traditions—the yodel, as much as any other sound, would have been the perfect music to have playing on the soundtrack to accompany my explorations. [read more]

And here’s another positive review from Library Journal:

With this companion volume to his previous (and seemingly comprehensive) Yodel-Ay-Ee-Oooo: The Secret History of Yodeling Around the World, freelance writer, Amsterdam radio-show host, and American expat Plantenga is becoming the Alan Lomax of not just the yodeling world but yodeling worldwide. This time around, he devotes his attention to the under-the-radar yodeling hoi polloi, whose prodigious talents are imbuing yodeling with contemporary relevance. [read more]

This is what Wisconsin State Journal had to say:

If you buy only one yodeling book this year, it will probably be “Yodel in Hi-Fi,” written by Bart Plantenga. After paying your $34.95, if you turn to page 57, you can read this: “Wisconsin is home to a robust blend of yodeling cultures: Swiss Americans in Monroe, scattered cowpoke yodelers, polka party yodelers, the Hmong, some Swedes, some Native Americans.” [read more].

BTW, if you don’t know about Bart Plantenga’s first book then you missed something, it’s great. Get Yodel-Ay-Ee-Oooo at amazon.com.

Yodel-Ay-Ee-Oooo: The Secret History of Yodelling Around the World from Bart Plantenga